Episode 38: The Birth of the Fighting Game (1)
Even though I had clearly written it as a birthday present solely for Aria.
Volume 1 of [The Elf’s Journey], which had somehow ended up being officially published due to Aria’s own forceful insistence.
Was receiving far better reviews than I had expected.
‘Hoho. What a soothing piece of writing. It calms both mind and body.’
‘Compared to Author Wei’s previous works, it’s a little bland, but something like this is nice once in a while, isn’t it?’
‘When I read this, doesn’t it make me want to go on a journey like this myself?
It was such an enjoyable-looking trip that even I felt warmed by it.’
Both the title and the content had been deliberately made less stimulating, and it was a healing travel story with the dopamine stripped out.
So honestly, I had wondered whether people would find it fun.
“But that’s exactly what worked.”
What was the reason healing and travel stories had become popular on Earth in my previous life?
Wasn’t it because everyone was so busy being crushed by work that they had no time to heal, and no circumstances that allowed them to travel?
The people of this world were the same.
No, if anything, they were even busier than the people in my previous life, and most of them lived and died within their own hometowns, let alone going on a trip.
So perhaps it filled that need perfectly and gave them vicarious satisfaction.
Of course, as with most works in this kind of genre, once similar works started flooding the market, people would get tired of them quickly.
But since this was still the first work, there was no need to worry about that yet.
‘Hmm. Maybe I should take this chance to learn fishing too.
I won’t be able to catch giant fish while sea fishing like Ophelia.
But I think I could manage something at a nearby river or lake.’
‘Once this job is over, I’ll have some free time. Should I go on a trip?
Living my whole life without ever leaving this village would be a pretty dull life.’
Thanks to that, there were even signs of more people trying to learn healing hobbies or go traveling during their leisure time.
Naturally, the first travel destination chosen by the greatest number of people was the sea.
Somehow, it felt like I had created a new trend.
In this way, [The Elf’s Journey] did not provoke the kind of fanatical reaction that drove people wild, but it was slowly seeping in and changing people’s lifestyles.
However, in an area unrelated to the content of the book, there was a rather fanatical reaction.
‘This work is a bit short compared to usual, isn’t it?
Is he planning to split it up into shorter volumes and release them frequently?
...What? It’s scheduled to come out only once a year? What kind of bullshit is that?!’
‘So you’re saying we can experience something fantastical like the beautiful underwater scenery shown by the mermaids only once a year?
I see. So where should we set fire to? The Publishing Guild?’
‘A volume this short, once a year?
Unless Author Wei himself is a real elf, will we even be able to see the end of the journey before we die?’
When the information belatedly came out that [The Elf’s Journey] was an annual series with only one volume released per year, the readers who had been looking forward to the next volume began to burn.
Compared to my previous works, the length was already on the shorter side, and their complaints that their patience could not endure waiting a whole year for this were mixed with concern over whether the protagonist, Ophelia, would even be able to finish her journey and return to the forest before either the readers or the author died.
Well, it wasn’t as if I couldn’t understand their complaints and worries.
“But this was written with that concept in mind from the very beginning, so there’s nothing I can do about it.”
That was why, if Aria herself hadn’t told me to publish it, I wouldn’t have had any intention of doing so.
“Hehehe. The number of comrades who share the same joy and pain as I do has increased greatly.”
And Aria, the person in question, was wearing a new flower crown made from the flowers Rena and I had given her.
She was happily celebrating the increase in comrades.
Was it just my imagination that she looked extremely wicked in a very un-Aria-like way?
“Well, I gave them the sickness and the medicine together, so it should be fine.”
The dear readers might be burning up like that right now, but all of that was because the book was fun.
Even if they could return to the past before they had read it, they would probably read it all over again.
It was a kind of WWE.
All the Publishing Guild had to do was take the bump properly while going, “Kraaaagh!”
“Kraaaagh! We’re dying, Author!
At this rate, the Publishing Guild really might go up in flames!
Please shorten the release cycle, even just a little!”
Uh, hmm... it seemed like this was turning into UFC a little.
“...Good luck!”
“Author? Author?!”
Leaving behind a single word of encouragement, I subtly averted my eyes from Rex’s desperate distress signal.
No matter what, I had no intention of changing the release cycle.
I was pretty busy in my own way too.
“And dealing with and solving problems like that is the Publishing Guild’s job in the first place, isn’t it?”
So, leaving the burning readers to the Publishing Guild and Rex for a while, I turned my attention elsewhere.
Because news had come in that might calm the readers currently on fire—no, perhaps even completely put their dissatisfaction to rest.
News that, unlike a healing work, was bursting with dopamine.
-The prototype of the fighting game and the game machine you mentioned has been completed.
Would you come take a look?-
At last, the fighting game and game machine were beginning to make their appearance in this world.
***
“Professor Logic! Mr. Grock! Is it true that the game machine and fighting game are complete?!”
“Ah, Lord Wade, you’ve arrived? Yes. As I wrote in the letter, we completed them.”
“They’re still prototypes, though.
You’re the only one who has a proper concept of this thing called a fighting game and game machine, so we called you here to receive your feedback and make improvements.”
After receiving the letter Professor Logic sent, I rushed straight to the Academy.
Logic and Grock, who looked extremely exhausted yet unable to hide their excited expressions, welcomed me warmly.
One could tell at a glance just how absorbed they had been in developing the fighting game and game machine.
Perhaps because of that, it was obvious that they were itching to show off the completed work as soon as possible.
“There’s no need for minor reports.
Could you show me the actual thing right away?”
So, in accordance with the engineers’ tastes, I boldly skipped all the ceremonial small talk and went straight to the main point.
“That suits us perfectly! Mr. Grock, please bring it over.”
“Yeah. Here, this is it!”
Thud!
Thud!
What Grock and Logic, who naturally smiled brightly at my ultra-fast proceedings, confidently brought out was.
“Armor?”
Two large sets of armor.
And full plate armor at that, the kind knights would wear.
“Why did you suddenly bring out armor?”
“Ah, this is the core device of the fighting game we developed!
It was created by combining puppet magic with the production method for living armor—”
“Ah, I’m sorry, but even if you explain the theory, I won’t understand it.”
I’ve said it again and again, but I’m a magic dropout.
If I could understand an explanation in that alien language, why would I have entrusted the job to you in the first place?
“Could you just tell me the key points—how it’s used and what result it produces?
For now, the feel is a little different from what I had in mind.”
“Understood.
To put only the core idea simply, according to the control of the user connected to this armor through mana, the armor moves with the exact same movements as the user and fights the other armor.”
What?
That’s... no, no.
It wouldn’t be too late to judge after hearing all of Logic’s explanation.
“So basically, the armor I move and the armor my opponent moves clash and determine victory or defeat?”
“That is correct. I understood it as a proxy battle between familiars that imitate the users’ movements, so I made it this way.
Is something wrong?”
“No. It’s not that this is completely wrong...”
It wasn’t wrong, but it was completely different in nature from the fighting game I had been imagining.
‘Because... this is totally a VR game!’
An avatar—the armor—that moves by following the user’s movements.
And a system that allows you to enjoy combat through that avatar without the main body taking any damage.
Aside from the fact that the avatar called armor actually existed, it was truly exactly a VR game.
‘An object that couldn’t be made easily even on Earth in my previous life has instead popped out at the very first stage of development in this world.’
Is this the power of magic?
That’s amazing!
Unable to suppress the irony at this unexpected result, I shouted at Logic and Grock in excitement as a spinal reflex.
“Can I try this myself right now?!”
I meant whether I could personally play this prototype.
No, it had turned out completely differently from what I expected.
But there was a real combat VR game implemented with magic right in front of me. How could I possibly pass without trying it?!
If there was someone capable of that, then that guy was definitely either not a man or gay!
“Of course! Please wait a moment.”
When I showed interest, Logic and Grock immediately began preparing for the test.
They installed mana stones inside the armor.
They also had me put on connection equipment such as gloves, boots, and a helmet.
“Then we’ll begin!”
And when they activated the magic circle at the end.
Along with a ziing vibration, I definitely began to feel that something had connected to me.
My heart pounding at that unfamiliar sensation, I slowly raised my right arm.
Clank—
“Ooooh!”
The armor really raised the same right arm I had lifted!
Even the movement was extremely smooth.
Far more than the VR games I had played a few times in my previous life!
Because it was so fascinating, I moved my body this way and that, marveling at the sight of the armor following my movements.
“I’ll be your opponent.
You won’t be used to moving yet, so come at me slowly.”
Before I knew it, Grock, who had put on equipment just like me, stood across from me and offered to be my opponent.
“...Here I come!”
As Grock said, I raised the sword the armor was holding and charged at him.
Honestly, after that, I was in a trance, so I don’t remember it well.
The sword of the armor I controlled clashed with the sword of the armor Grock controlled.
We also engaged in a brawl that disregarded safety, something we could never have done in a real fight and was only possible because these were avatars.
I think I even tried to use some technique I couldn’t pull off, flipped over, and flailed around.
Still, one thing was certain.
“Hahaha! This is incredibly fun!
It feels like I’ve really become a knight!”
“Puhaha. What kind of knight moves that pathetically?”
“I mean, it feels that way!
If not a knight, then let’s just say an adventurer or a mercenary!”
In that it allowed one to safely obtain the thrill and dopamine that could only be gained from a life-or-death battle, something impossible to feel in ordinary life.
This prototype had more than enough value.
Huff— huff—
Haa— haa—
After playing several rounds of test matches like that, I removed the connection equipment with my whole body drenched in sweat.
Then I collapsed onto the ground and only managed to get up after panting for breath and resting for several minutes.
Only after my stamina had been completely drained and I flopped into a chair.
Could I tell Logic and Grock, who were smiling broadly while awaiting my praise and passing judgment, what I thought.
“But this can’t be sold in its current form.
We’ll have to tear it apart and remake it in a completely different way.”
It was fun.
But unfortunately, there were too many problems to sell it as it was, so I honestly told them I didn’t think we could.
And upon hearing my honest opinion, Logic and Grock’s confident expressions.
Immediately twisted into despair like engineers who had fallen into an endless cycle of revision requests.